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74 INDIA AS DESCRIBED IN BARLY TEXTS
(Aparānta). The Kävya-mimāṁsā mentions, among others, Devasabhā, Surāştra, Bhrgukaocha, Kaccha, Anarta and Arbuda as representative countries of Aparānta. The Márkandeya Purāņa offers a longer list containing the names of such countries as Sūrpāraka, Kosala (South Kosala), Vidisā, Pulinda, Nāşika, Marukaccha (Bhțgukaccha), Kaccha, Surāştra and Avanti.1 To them we may add Sūrasena and Matsya which may as well be referred to Uttarāpatha. According to Hiuen Tsang's account, Western India seems to have comprised 'Sindh, Western Rajputana, Cutch, Gujarat and a portion of the adjoining coast on the lower course of the Narmada'.
The most important among the countries in Aparānta was Avanti which formed one of the three mandalas of Jambudipa, the other two being Päcina and Dakkhiņāpatha. It appears to have been divided by the river Vettavati into north and south, the north having its capital at Ujjení (modern Ujen), and the second at Māhissati(Māhismati, later known as Gonaddha). It is probably the second part which has been described as Avanti Dakkhiņāpatha. Both
Märkandeya Purana, 57. * Cunningham, Ancient Geography, p. 690.
a Rhys Davids, The Questions of King Milinda, 8.B.E., i, p. 250, f.n. 1.
+ D. R. Bhandarkar, Carmichael Lectures (1918), p. 64.
